Stevens Shutout by Campbell

By Ray Curren EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT — For the second straight week, the opposing end zone was just a mirage for the Stevens football team, looking so enticing until the Cardinals got near it and watched it disappear.

The end result was a second straight shutout defeat to an NHIAA Division III title contender — this time 16-0 to Campbell — Friday night at Barnes Park.

Stevens (0-3) ran a whopping 21 plays inside the Cougar Red Zone (20-yard line), 12 of them coming in the first quarter alone, but never scored.

“Not being able to finish in the Red Zone has been a theme unfortunately this season. We have to fix our Red Zone issues whether it’s penalties or lack of execution,” Stevens coach Josh Duford said. “They all fought as hard as they possibly could, though, I can’t take that away from them.”

The Cardinals dominated most of the first half, taking a failed onside opening kickoff down to the Campbell 3-yard line, but missing a short field goal. Aiden White, who played several offensive positions on the night, hit Kaden Thyne for an apparent touchdown on Stevens’ next possession, but it was called back for holding. White connected with Thyne on the next play for 19 yards to the Campbell 1-yard line, but on 4th down — and the opening play of the second quarter — White was stopped at the goal line.

On the other side of the ball, the Stevens defense had every answer for Campbell and bruising sophomore running back Scott Hershberger in the first half. The Cougars (3-0), who had won their first two contests in blowouts, got as far as the Stevens 11-yard line at the end of the second quarter, but the half ended scoreless.

Campbell got the ball to start the second half and the Stevens defense appeared to do the job again, but Hershberger got loose on 4th-and-11 for a 38-yard touchdown, and it was 8-0 when Hershberger ran in the conversion.

Stevens again methodically marched down the field, getting all the way to the Campbell 1-yard line before another holding call pushed them back and the Cardinals were stopped on downs with the third quarter running out.

Finally, Hershberger and company — including 6’4” quarterback Jackson Kanaley — started to wear Stevens down, Hershberger scoring from 2 yards out (and running in the conversion again) with 5:19 left after an eight-minute drive to finish Stevens off.

“These are as adverse conditions as we play in the state of New Hampshire,” Campbell coach Glen Costello said. “We had to get our passports ready to come up here. Stevens has consistently had our number and they’re tough as nails. Stevens threw everything they had at us, and we’re happy to get out of here with the win.”

Hershberger finished with 131 yards on 20 carries to lead Campbell, but 97 of them came in the second half. The Cougars misfired on their first seven passes with three different quarterbacks before finally completing three in the fourth quarter. Campbell, which also defeated Stevens in a hard-fought 15-7 battle at Barnes Park last season en route to a playoff berth, recorded its second straight shutout and has allowed just eight points this season.

Junior quarterback Tyler Christian led Stevens with 54 yards on 18 carries, most of them up the middle. White had 36 yards on eight attempts rushing and caught three passes for 33 yards while also mixing in some quarterback snaps.

Stevens is 0-3, however it has faced two of the top three projected teams in Division III and won’t face the third — Trinity — until the final weekend of the season, so there is a chance to possibly rack up some wins in the next five games and get back into the playoff picture (the top four teams qualify), but the margin for error is zero the rest of the way.

“I thought we played well overall,” Duford said. “We had opportunities to be leading the game and we just didn’t capitalize. We just have to take it one game at a time and not worry about the record, go 1-0 each week and see where that brings us.”